Australia’s Nine Entertainment sells regional titles

Australia’s Nine Entertainment has signed an agreement for the sale of its Australian Community Media and Printing business, which is expected to be complete by June 30. The sale price is $125 million Australian ($87 million U.S.) 

The sale involves 160 regional papers and magazines. Titles include the Newcastle Herald, Canberra Times and Illawarra Mercury.

ACM will be acquired by a company controlled by interests associated with Antony Catalano, the ex-head of the Domain real estate platform, and Thorney Investment Group. 

Funds from the sale are intended to be used to reduce group indebtedness, according to Nine Entertainment. Nine will obtain up to $10 million (nearly $7 million U.S.) of advertising on ACM properties over the three years from completion of the sale.  

In conjunction with the sale, ACM and Nine have also entered into arrangements that preserve the commercial relationships that have existed during Nine’s ownership of the business. This includes printing of Nine’s metropolitan publications (The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review) and, for a short transitional period, sharing of content between ACM publications and the metropolitan publications.

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